My kitchen is full of international culinary adventure year-round! On the adventure is a man, a woman, a preschool boy, and a baby girl. Oh, a college student who's staying with us too. New recipes, new flavors, new favorites ahoy!

Wine and Food Matcher

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Planning Day: Balearic Islands

This week we're taking a kitchen-based boat ride west through the Mediterranean Sea from Corsica to the Balearic Islands. They're an archipelago off the coast of Spain. Supposedly a beautiful vacation spot, and the more I read about the gorgeous beaches, the 300 days of sunshine a year, and all these islands have to offer the more I want to vacation there myself one day. Apparently it's not unheard of visitors end up settling on one of the lovely islands.

The cuisine is supposed to be rich in vegetables like eggplant, potatoes (I know, a tuber), peppers, tomatoes. They love clear soups and a wide variety of sauces. They have a vegetable-bread stew, and a casserole similar to France's ratatouille. Seafood is, of course, also popular. They have a few twists to their breads as well- literally. They also have a

Unfortunately our library doesn't have any cookbooks I can find on the Balearic Islands. I'm doing all my recipe hunting and menu planing from the internet. Right now the most helpful websites I've found are spanish-living.com, spain-recipes.com, and Epicurious.

What is known:
The country we're "visiting": The Balearic Islands off Spain
Late Week Weather: sunny and cool, with highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s
According to the website "All About Spain" the most famous food we can thank the Balearic Island of Menorca for is mayonnaise (Wikipedia agrees with this).
Very famous for olive oil- thousands of years of fame here actually, going back to ancient Rome

Must decide:
What we're to eat
Can I use what I have?
Do I have to visit a specialty store or can I stick with a normal grocery store?

What would you make if you were cooking a Balearic Island style supper?